Harebell Formation

Harebell Formation
Stratigraphic range: Maastrichtian,
~70.3–68.2 Ma
↓
TypeGeological formation
UnderliesPinyon Conglomerate
Location
ExtentYellowstone National Park (Big Game Ridge)

The Harebell Formation is a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)[1] geologic formation in Wyoming which outcrops in parts of the Yellowstone National Park. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[2]

Discovery of the first dinosaur found in Yellowstone

In 1966, Joseph Leonard Weitz discovered specimen USNM PAL 768805,[3] a right distal premaxillary tooth of a tyrannosaur, from Big Game Ridge, an outcrop of the Harebell Formation within Yellowstone National Park and catalogued it as specimen W-66-1-8A until it was moved to the United States Geological Survey Paleontology collection in Denver, Colorado and was catalogued as specimen D704.[4]

A letter dated 16 November 1966 from J. D. Love to Dr. G. Edward Lewis mentioned that they knew that the tooth was the first dinosaur fossil known from the Yellowstone National Park,[3] and Love (1973) placed USNM PAL 768805 within the Deinodontidae,[4] while Harris et al. (1996) instead listed the tooth as belonging to the Tyrannosauridae.[5]

The specimen was renamed to USMN PAL 768805 in 2021 when it was moved to the Paleobiology Collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.[3] The tooth was assigned to cf. Tyrannosaurus sp. by Hodnett et al. (2023), who also suggested that it was the shed tooth of a juvenile.[3][6]

Paleofauna

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Harris, J.D. (1997). "Four-toed theropod footprints and a paleomagnetic age from the Whetstone Falls Member of the Harebell Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Maastrichtian), northwestern Wyoming: a correction". Cretaceous Research. 18 (1): 139. doi:10.1006/cres.1996.0053. ISSN 0195-6671.
  2. ^ Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hodnett, John-Paul & Carrano, Matthew & Santucci, Vincent & Tweet, Justin & Visaggi, Christy. (2023). A Tyrannosaur (Dinosauria; Theropoda; Tyrannosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Harebell Formation of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin 94. 233-238.
  4. ^ a b Love, J.D. (1973). "Harebell Formation (Upper Cretaceous) and Pinyon Conglomerate (uppermost Cretaceous and Paleocene), northwestern Wyoming". Professional Paper. doi:10.3133/pp734a. ISSN 2330-7102.
  5. ^ Harris, J.D.; Johnson, K.R.; Hicks, J.; Tauxe, L. (1996). "Four-toed theropod footprints and a paleomagnetic age from the Whetstone Falls Member of the Harebell Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Maastrichtian), northwestern Wyoming". Cretaceous Research. 17 (4): 381–401. doi:10.1006/cres.1996.0024. ISSN 0195-6671.
  6. ^ a b "A Tyrannosaurus Is The First Confirmed Dinosaur Fossil Found In Yellowstone". cowboystatedaily.com. 2023-10-03. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  7. ^ "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  8. ^ Hodnett, J.-P. M., Tweet, J. S. and Santucci, V. L., (2022), The occurrence of fossil cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes) within the parks and monuments of the National Park Service: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 90, p. 183-208

References

  • Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
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